Read: Mead, Coming of Age in Samoa

1. What was Margaret Mead's orienting question? How did it shape her fieldwork and presentation of evidence?

2. Margaret Mead writes that she based her study on a relatively small sample, but feels the results can be fairly generalized. Why? Do you find Mead's argument here convincing? Why or why not? What model of culture does Mead's statement suggest?

3. Through examining life experiences and cultural values in Samoa, Mead argues for a re-evaluation of American educational practices. What do you think about her sense of the problem in American childrearing and education? What about her proposals? What are the advantages and disadvantages to using anthropology as a form of comparative analysis and cultural critique?

4. What does Mead see as the relationship between culture and personality, both in Samoa and the US? What role do nature and nurture play in the shaping of individual traits and behaviors?

Journal entry: Mead and the Popularization of Anthropology (due in class on Monday, 9/25)

We saw with Lutz and Collins that attempts to portray other cultures can promote empathy. Without broader contextualization, however, this empathy can be rather shallow and may reproduce stereotypes. Margaret Mead's goal was to present a readable, but detailed account of Samoans that might lead Americans to confront their stereotypes and, in so doing, to see themselves differently. Did she, in your opinion, succeed in doing so? (Hint: You might find it helpful to frame your journal entry as an answer to question 3 above.)

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